Pere Aragonès announced this afternoon at a press conference that he will not take up his position as a deputy in the Parliament after the ERC debacle in the May 12 elections. He will not occupy the seat that corresponded to him and at the same time that he has stated that the elections “are a change of face” for his party and for Catalonia, he has left all the pressure in the hands of Salvador Illa and Carles Puigdemont to form a new government. between them, something that until today both the socialist and the post-convergent have completely ruled out. Oriol Junqueras watched it all from the back of the press room. Esquerra had announced the night before that it would be the president of ERC who would appear today.
The president of the Generalitat has made it clear again that Esquerra will not be part of a new government. He was not so much so shortly after: he first stressed that his formation “will be an element of unlocking” from the opposition; However, minutes later he stressed that ERC is not “to facilitate an investiture of the PSC and we will not participate in operations that require the agreement of Junts and the PSC.”
The leader of ERC has been seen at some point during his appearance somewhat resentful towards these two formations, especially when he admitted that “the opposition to the Government represented by the PSC and Junts has won” and then recalled that the blockade by both to his Executive “has prevented the transformations from going ahead” that the Republicans had proposed since the beginning of their mandate, in May 2021. “This is why it is now up to them to manage the new scenario,” he argued.
“Out of responsibility with the country and with the party that I represent today, I have informed the national permanent of Esquerra Republicana that I will not take the position of deputy and that I will abandon the first political line,” he stated. The head of the Government has stressed that he is beginning a new stage and will focus his efforts on facilitating a transition from the acting Government. But also in his party from his position as national coordinator to “close an electoral cycle of bad results and contribute to opening a new cycle of growth.”
Aragonès has made this decision after a Catalan election that has placed Esquerra in third place, with more than 170,000 votes lost compared to the 2021 elections, thirteen seats less – from 33 to 20 now – and without any possibility of repeating at the head of the Generalitat. What’s more, Aragonès, as national coordinator and candidate of ERC, announced during the election night that ERC was ruled out to be part of a new Government. “It is up to the PSC and Junts to manage the new stage,” he said then.
In his speech, the president appealed to unity when he demanded that “personalisms and sterile battles” be abandoned, so that the independence movement can rise. In 2021, the movement had 52% of valid votes; currently it is at 43%
